Entertainment at it's worst
by LoveOneLoveAll
Summary: Gaz is living a horrible life. Her mother was taken by 'Them', her brother has been lost, and her father drinks away his problems, will she be able to handle the fact that 'they' have their eye on her? Sort of like the 'Hunger Games.' May be OOC. HUGE ZAGR!
1. Chapter 1

**_(A/N: I need you guys to review! Please! I really want your opinion on this, I know someone else is already working on something like this, I just want to put my own twist on this. Please, no flames, you could if you want to, but I will defend my story, just like I do with all my other ones.)_**

**_Disclaimer: Invader Zim is not mine!_**

I looked up at the ceiling above me and blew my bangs out of my eyes as I tried to relax on my bed. But I couldn't relax, I heard that today one of… 'them'… was going to come and pick out one of us.

I sighed and sat up, my hands going up to my hair, pushing it back and looked in the broken mirror that was across me. "I hope they don't pick me… I've had enough pain and suffering to go through with my mom dying, my brother getting lost, and my father drinking away his sorrows and ignoring me." I said to my reflection.

I heard bells ring in the distance. Lunch time.

I stood up and grabbed my skull necklace from my scratched up desk and put it on. I fingered the skull with a heavy sigh. Mother gave it to me the day before she was taken by… 'Them'. She told me that this necklace protect me when I need protection. A year after 'they' took her, I started to mess around with the necklace and found that it was a pocket knife… just in a necklace form.

There was a knock at my bedroom door. "Go away." I growled.

"Didn't you hear the bell? It's time for lunch." My father growled from the other side of the door, but by the tone of his voice, I knew he was drunk.

"Leave me alone! I'm not hungry." I growled, not looking away from my reflection.

"Gaz, get out there and eat. We are fortunate enough to have connections that will give us food, there are others who are not as fortunate, go eat." He yelled banging on the door scaring the rats that were in the wall, causing them to run to the other side of the room.

I watch them run, normally I would have been disgusted, but four years of this passed, and I had become accustomed to it. "You just can't wait until I die can't you?" I growled at him.

"Gaz, we both know the answer to that. Now get out there and eat." He growled.

I heard his heavy footsteps walked down the hallway. My bottom lip began to quiver as I walked over to my bed and sat down. I let my head fall into my hands. I slowly shook my head as I felt my eyes began to burn with the tears.

I held back whimpers, those only made me weak. I won't give my father the satisfaction. _'We both know the answer to that.'_ He had said… he couldn't wait for me to die, I was only holding him back.

I bit down on my limp as I looked down at my scared wrists, disappointment and sadness filling my core. I was so disappointed in myself after I had cut myself; I had fallen so far… so deep into depression… I needed help.

I never received that help, I was forced to turn cold and unloving… I no longer had emotion… but when my father yells at me, telling me that he doesn't love me… depression breaks my hard shell and seeps in through the cracks, pain filling my soul.

I wiped away my tears as I tried to ignore my rumbling stomach. I wasn't going to go eat, not today, I don't want to be seen by one of… them.


	2. Chapter 2

I took in a deep breath and let it out as I finally managed to stop feeling sorry for myself. My stomach growled again, my hand clutching at it, trying to make it stop, but I knew that that would never work, never had and never will… I had no other option but to swallow my pride and do what my drunk father had told me to do… I was going to go eat.

It has been a long time since the last time I ate, about two weeks, and all because I thought that I would be taking away the chance of someone who really needed the food not to have any. But I was wrong because the food that my dad's contacts have left over they throw to the pigs.

I shook my head and took in another deep breath and sat up on my bed again. What were the chances of one of 'them' actually choosing me? There were about five hundred of us in this little district. The chance of them even paying attention to me is rare. As long as I act invisible I will be fine, as long as I don't draw any attention to myself.

I got up and walked to my closet, pushing to the side the old curtain that the closet door. I only had seven outfits, one for every day of the week; we didn't have the contacts to actually get new clothes, so mine were getting old quick. I could barely fit into them.

I reached in and grabbed my Friday outfit that consisted of black leggings and my plane black dress that reached mid-thigh.

I threw them on the bed and grabbed my flats, they were the only shoes I had, it was them or going bear-foot, I made that mistake before, I couldn't walk for days on end after that, our roads were made of pebbles and dirt.

I shook my head and smiled as I changed out of my Pajamas and into my Friday outfit. I remember when my mom was still here, she was the one that had nursed me back to health while my dad made a good impression of the family along with my big brother Dib, but everything went downhill when he was lost. My mother fell into a deep depression and my father started to drink for the first time… I remember the horrible fights that they started to have, yelling over why my dad would drink, why my mom would be so negligent towards her children. I would be in my room crying, I was able to hear their fights that was going on downstairs.

I use to think that I hated both of them, I was angry with my dad for drinking, but I was angry at my mom for moving out of the house. She had taken me with her, and I didn't want to move, I just wanted to be a big happy family, was that so much for a ten year old to ask?

I shook my head, I didn't want to think of what happened after that, I didn't want to cry… but the images just kept flashing through my mind. I fell to the ground, I couldn't hold back the sobs that emerged from my throat.

_**Flashback-**_

"_**Shut up! I don't want to hear it!" I yelled at my mom angry beyond belief.**_

"_**Don't yell at me like that Gaz." My mom pleaded.**_

"_**No, why did you let them choose you? Huh? Why?" I yelled at her, tears blurring my vision.**_

"_**It wasn't my choice Gaz." She said hugging me to her.**_

_**I pushed myself out of her embrace shaking my head at her, tears rolling down my cheeks. "No, you don't love me, that is why you let them choose you. You don't want me anymore!" I yelled at her, my bottom lip quivering as I backed away and ran to my room slamming the door shut behind me. **_

"_**No Gaz, you have it all wrong! I do love you!" she yelled from the other side of the door.**_

"_**Liar! I don't believe you!" I yelled back sobbing as I sat down on the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest and started to weep.**_

"_**Gaz, open the door." She pleaded.**_

"_**No!" I yelled.**_

_**I heard someone knock on the front door and everything went silent except for my sobbing.**_

"_**Please Gaz, open the door and let me say goodbye." She whimpered.**_

"_**No! You don't love me that is why they are going to take you away." I yelled out.**_

"_**Gaz, no, I love you, I love you with all my heart." She pleaded; I could hear her sobbing from the other side of the door. "Please Gaz, open the door." She whimpered.**_

_**I ignored her I didn't want to see her, she was going to be taken away because she didn't love me, no one did.**_

"_**Gaz please, I love you." My mom sobbed.**_

"_**No! I hate you! I hate you Annabell! I hate you with all my heart!" I yelled at her sobbing and taking in deep breaths.**_

"_**Gaz, please don't say that, you're breaking my heart!" she cried.**_

"_**I say it because it's true!" I yelled at her. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" I kept on repeating.**_

"_**Gaz… they're going to take me away. Please let me in. I know you're lying to me, open the door." She pleaded.**_

_**I heard something break on the other side of the door. "It's time to go Annabell." I heard someone say.**_

"_**No, I have to say goodbye to my baby girl, I need to tell her I love her." My mom said. "Come on Gaz, open the door please." She exclaimed through tears.**_

_**I kept quiet; I just remember thinking 'Take her away, just take her away. She doesn't love me.'**_

"_**Annabell, we have to go." The man on the other side of the door said. "We don't want to be late."**_

"_**I need to say goodbye to her, I need to give her one last hug… one last kiss goodbye." My mom pleaded with them.**_

_**I heard her kick, and then something being dragged across the ground.**_

"_**Gaz!" I heard her yell out.**_

_**I stood up and slowly opened the door to peak out.**_

"_**I love you honey! Never forget that!" she yelled out as she was being dragged across the dirt covered floor towards the front door, ruining her dress.**_

_**I looked more closely at the man that was dragging her out the door to see that he wasn't human… he was an alien. His skin as green as the grass that used to grow here, and even though his back was to me, I could tell that he enjoyed his job, that he enjoyed hearing the suffering of others… I could tell that he was heartless.**_

_**I was hiding in that little room for days on end without eating until my dad went out to look for me and found me lying there, my tears had run out… I was emotionless. "No one loves me and no one will ever love me." I kept repeating.**_

"_**Stop saying that Gaz." Was all that my dad ever said, but he never denied what I was saying.**_

_**The alien man came back and this time with a huge T.V. for the whole district to watch what was going to happen.**_

_**Everyone crowded in front of it, but my dad and I got the special spot in the front.**_

_**With horror I watched as the other players killed her, not one ounce of regret in their eyes, but my eyes were filled with regret, why did I say I hated her? I loved her so much… and this happened… it was that day that I swore to myself that I will never love anyone again… I will always be alone… forever.**_

_**-End flash back**_

I tried to calm my breathing down but I couldn't. "I'm sorry mom!" I yelled out, sprawled out on the ground clutching my skull necklace in my hand. "I don't hate you! I love you! I love you so much!" I cried out. "And I miss you, I need you." I cried out as tears ran down my cheeks.


	3. Chapter 3

I somehow managed to calm myself down as I sat up again, wiping away my tears. "Be strong Gaz, be strong." I murmured to myself as I stood up and dusted off the dirt. "Although lunch time is over, I could still make it for dinner." I whispered to myself, clutching at my growling stomach.

"I'll go eat, but I have to wash my face first." I murmured to myself as I walked out of my room and down the stairs. I haven't stepped out of my room for a while now, trying to avoid my father, but locking myself in my room only made me feel more depressed as if there was no one there for me.

"I have to make it to the river unnoticed." I murmured to myself before stepping out of the house.

I opened the door and poke my head out, no one was there, the coast is clear, just a quick run through the trees and I'll be there.

"Here I go." I whispered as I closed the door behind me and ran as fast as I could. I must have been weaker than I thought; my legs were wobbly threatening to collapse under me as I ran. My breath quickened, it was getting harder to breath, my face was heating up, but to my relief I saw the woods was closer than I remember it being.

I ran to it, my refuge… my other home, how I missed it. I ran through the woods and made it to a chain link fence that separated the district from the wild. I pulled my hair into a pony tail and got a good hold of the fence and began to climb.

I could hear the flow of the river, the chirping of birds, the wild animals. I took in a deep breath as I made it to the other side of the fence, taking in the smell of fresh air. I climbed down the fence and spread my arms wide. "How I missed this." I whispered to myself as I walked into the wild, squirrels ran past me, birds flew above me, it cheered me up.

This is where I use to run away to when I was younger… before they took away my mom eight years ago.

I shook my head, clearing out the negative thoughts. "Just enjoy the fresh air while you still have it." I told myself, trying to stay positive.

The rush of water hit my ears; I was close to the flowing river. I smiled to myself, a genuine smile, and ran as fast as I could.

It was beautiful, the water running along, the sun glinting off of it, leaves that had fallen off of the nearby trees landed on the water and went along with it for the ride. This is one of the reasons I've missed being here… the beauty. I kneeled down next to the river and looked at my reflection. My eyes were red from crying, as was my nose, but that wasn't what caught my attention… it was what I saw in my eyes… I saw hope, as if there was something that could pull me out of my depression… and it was all of this, the wilderness, my childhood… my home.

I bent over and cupped my hands letting the water run through my fingers and splashed my face with the water, enjoying the cool feeling hit my skin with a sigh of relief. I looked up to see an elk drinking the water in front of me.

I smiled at it but then froze when I saw it looking at me. It bobbed its head and then looked in the other direction.

Was it trying to tell me something? I looked over to where it was looking and took in a sharp breath… it was an alien ship. I stood up sharply, causing the elk to run. I backed away and ran to one of the tallest trees I could find and began to climb it. I was half way to the top when I heard the voices.

"What do you mean you haven't found one? How are we going to compete with Tak's player without one of our own?"

I looked down to see two of 'Them'. The rumors were true, they were here to pick out a player. I clung to the tree, wishing that they wouldn't see me.


	4. Chapter 4

I clung to the tree, trying not to make any sort of noise.

"You idiot!" the taller one yelled at the small one slapping him across the face. "I should have known better than sending someone as short as you." He growled.

The short one cowered in fear covering his face. "I'm sorry Master Zim… it won't happen again." He whimpered.

That voice… why did it sound so familiar? I shook my head. I should stay focused on not getting caught.

Slowly I started to climb higher in the tree until I reached a branch that was strong enough to hold my weight and sat on it, leaning against the tree itself as I looked down at the two of 'Them'.

"You're lucky I need you." The taller one growled at the short one.

The short one started to quiver in fear. "I'm sorry Master Zim." He repeated, trying to stand his ground.

That voice ran warning bells through my head, but I was way too nervous to actually remember where I heard it from.

The two aliens started to walk in the direction of the district and I let out a sigh of relief, I wasn't caught.

From where I sat I could see everything, especially that big space ship, it was a deep shade of purple. Through the windshield I could see a whole bunch of buttons and flashing lights.

I looked back at where the aliens were marching off to and then back at the ship. They would never know.

I bit down on my lip and slowly climbed down the tree, making sure not to make any sort of sound that would call the attention of 'them'.

With a sigh of relief my feet touched the ground. I looked back in the direction that the aliens went and saw that they had disappeared; they probably made it back to the district.

I turned the other way and walked in the direction of the alien space ship turning back every once in a while to make sure that I wasn't being watched.

I stopped when I reached the ship… it was beautiful. My hand started to tremble as I reached out to touch it. It was cold, but smooth. I let my fingers slide across the cold metal walking around the ship a small smile on my face.

I hugged it, I had no idea why but… it seemed so… welcoming.

I heard a thump inside of the ship and froze. I took a step back, my eyes wide.

"Intruder!" a small robot yelled jumping out of the space ship.

"I…" I wanted to say something but as I backed away I tripped over a tree root that was sticking out of the ground.

The little robot pounced on my head, grabbing at my hair. "Let go of me!" I exclaimed rolling around.

"Weee!" it yelled out, not letting go of my hair.

I stopped rolling around and got up yanking it away from my hair and throwing it back to the space ship.

It started to laugh as it hit the ground and shook its head. "Where you goin?" it asked as it saw me starting to speed walk away.

I didn't respond, I didn't want to get caught by 'Them.'

"Friend! Wait!" it screeched.

I looked back to see that it was gaining up on me. I started to run in the other direction, completely lost at this point, damn my curiosity.

"Friend!" it yelled out again, running after me.

I heard the rush of water again, with a smile I rushed in that direction.

I looked back to see that the little robot was gone.

I slowed down and kneeled next to the little river and reached out into it, trying to relax.

"Lady? What are you doin?" I heard the little robot screech from beside me.

"Ah!" I screeched, startled enough that I was about to fall into the river if it weren't for the little robot reaching out and pulling me back.

I looked back at it with curiosity.

It quietly stared back and waved. "Hello!" It screeched.

"Gir!" I heard someone yell.

My eyes widened and I stood up quickly to see the tall alien.

The alien stared back at me. "What are you doing with Gir?" it growled at me, the short one cowering behind it.


	5. Chapter 5

"Answer me, what were you doing with Gir?" the alien asked glaring in my direction.

I looked at the little robot to see that it was staring up at me, it's tongue hanging out as it ran for my leg hugging it.

"Gir, let go of the human." The alien growled.

"But she's mah friend!" it screeched.

The tall alien growled but then calmed down enough to look at the short alien that was cowering behind him.

"Well, what are you waiting for, go get Gir." He ordered pointing at the little robot that was at my feet.

"So your name is Gir?" I whispered to the little thing.

It nodded happily, its arms tightening around my leg.

The short alien shyly walked forward towards me.

"Oh come one Skoodge, she's not going to bite, just take Gir and go back to the ship." The tall one growled, impatient.

The short alien quickly ran forward, its tiny arms circling around Firs torso and yanking him away from me. With a small bow in the direction of the tall alien it ran in the direction of the space ship.

I watched it run with Gir. "Bah bye friend!" Gir yelled over the aliens shoulder waving madly.

The tall alien watched them leave and once they were out of sight he took a step towards me. "Now where were we? Oh yes. What were you doing with my Sir unit?" he questioned me angrily.

I took a step back when he took a step towards me.

"Well?" he asked, rather impatient as he advanced towards me.

My breath quickened at the same rate that my heart did, I didn't see any other way to escape other than to run, and that's exactly what I did.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going? Get back here!" the alien yelled at me.

I ran through the trees, jumping over various roots and fallen branches, the leaves beneath me crunching softly with every step I took.

I looked back to see that the alien was hot on my trail. So much for not drawing any attention to me.

I kept running until I saw a fence, my heart sunk, I didn't want to go back there but I didn't have a choice. I took in a deep breath and grabbed a hold of the fence. Letting the breath out noisily, I climbed the fence my hands sweating from nervousness.

That's when I felt something grab at my ankle and pull. I looked down to see that it was the alien. "I think I found my player." He whispered a sinister smile spreading across his face.

My eyes widened in terror as I shook my head in denial. "No… no." I growled kicking his grip away and quickly climbing up the fence.

The alien laughed and climbed up after me. "You aren't going to get far." He said,

I got to the top of the fence and looked down at the other side, it was a pretty far jump, but to get away from the alien, I'll do it.

I spread my arms and looked at the sky, letting the wind blow in my direction.

"What are you doing?" the alien asked.

I smirked and leaned forward.

"No." he growled and grabbed onto the back of my dress before I could fall over.

"Let go of me." I growled.

I felt the alien freeze. "No… it can't be… Annabell?"

I froze and looked up at him. "How do you know my mother's name?" That's when it hit me. "You were the one that took her away; you and your partner… you guys were the ones that took her away." Shock coursed through me as looked up at him.

He let go of me in shock and I fell to the ground landing on my back with a thud. He lost his balance and fell backwards to the other side of the fence landing on his side.

I sat up to see that he was looking at me, a weird smile on his face. "You could run Gaz… but I'll find you." He said and stood up to walk in the other direction.

"How the hell did he know my name? Never mind that, he's going to pay for taking away my mom, or my name isn't Gaz Membrane." I growled to myself, my fist clenching as I stiffly walked to the dining house.


	6. Chapter 6

The dinner bell ran much to my relief as I was snapped back to reality. I looked down at my clothes then froze, I can't show up at the dining house like this! My dress is covered in dirt and my leggings have a rip in them, and I don't have to look in the mirror to know that my hair is a disaster. "I'm gonna need to change again." I grumbled to myself as I walked back home.

Normally I wouldn't care, but image was everything in this district, if you wanted the right contacts you had to look your best and you had to have a good name with your image. Membrane means a lot in this little district, my father is the doctor here… so when I cut myself, I didn't know I was prone to excessive bleeding.

I shut my eyes tightly, I really don't want to remember the look of disappointment on my dad's face when I had to gather the guts to go to him… the way he yelled at me brought me to tears. I couldn't just run to my room, I was ready to faint from the loss of blood, my father kept yelling at me, and I had no other choice but to try to act like I didn't care… but then he saw the tears…

_-Flash Back-_

"_Suck it up! You have no reason to do what you did!" he yelled at me as he took a sip from his beer bottle._

"_Please, dad." I pleaded as I started to see stars, holding out my slit wrists to him._

_He looked at me in disgust. "Dib would have never done that you know."_

"_Please don't compare him to me." I pleaded._

"_You're right Gaz, I won't compare him to you, you aren't good enough for that." He snarled at me taking another swig from the bottle and setting it down roughly on the table beside him, hard enough for the bottom to crack and spill on the table, the liquid running down the table side and dripping to the floor. "See what you make me do?" he yelled at me, mad at the fact that that was his last beer bottle for the day._

_I couldn't hold back the tears that started to roll down my cheeks._

"_Are you crying? She's crying." My dad said with an eye roll. "I'll fix you this one time, but don't expect me to ever help you again." He growled at me. "Sissy." He said under his breath._

_I suppressed my sobs as my dad did what he could to stop the bleeding and get my wrists fixed up… I learned my lesson that day… never mess with my father._

_-End flashback-_

My heart grew cold with the thought of my dad. He had brought so much pain into my life I noticed that while I was having a flash back I had made it to my house. I barged in ignoring the hateful glare that I received from my dad and running up to my room.

"Ah!" I've been holding in that scream for ages, I fell to my knees my hands grabbing and pulling at my hair as I let all my pint up anger out.

I took in a deep breath and stood right back up grabbing a small glass table that I had since I was little and threw it across the room, watching the thing shatter, I'll pick it up when I'm done taking out my anger.

I kept letting out screams as if they were war cries, and in a way they were, I was tired of living here, I was tired of being neglected, I was tired of my father.

And there it was again, right on cue, there was a banging at the door. "Gaz! What are you doing?" he exclaimed.

I grabbed one of my old glass perfume bottles from the top of my desk and threw it against the door. "Go away!" I yelled out grabbing at my hair again in desperation as the glass perfume bottle shattered, the liquid that it contained staining the door and making a puddle on the ground, glass fragments decorating the puddle as it glittered as the light shined against it.

"Open this door right now!" he exclaimed.

"Make me!" I yelled back, that's when I knew what I had to do.

I counted from one to ten, trying to take deep even breaths to calm down as my father yelled at me from the other side of the door.

I did my best to ignore him as I got out my six other outfits from the closet and grabbed my book bag stuffing them in there.

My mind was set, there's no going back… I'm running away.

My father kept pounding on the door. "Gaz get your butt out here!" he exclaimed.

I closed my eyes and looked out the window. Where was I going to go? I have no idea. How was I going to avoid my father? I don't know that either, but I know I'm not going to stay here. I walked up to my window and reached out to it, my fingers trembling as I flipped the lock open.

My heart thudded in my chest as I pushed it open, and it creaked. My breath caught in my throat as I looked back at the door afraid that my father might have heard it, but he just kept banging on the door and I let out a sigh of relief.

A gust of warm wind blew in to the room. This is it then; all I had to do was jump out this window. Sure my dad would act like he cared, just to keep his reputation in check, but I know he would never really care. I threw my bag out the window and I looked outside. The fence was right there… but what about 'Them'?

I shook my head, I'll cross that bridge when I get there, for now, I just need to get away from here. I jumped out the window and reached down to grab my book bag throwing it over my shoulder and closing the window.

I walked to the fence and looked back at the little district; this was my nightmare… goodbye… for good.

I smiled a small smile and got a good hold of the fence and began to climb, when I got to the top I let the wind blow against me. I took in a deep breath, just a few steps away from my new life. I closed my eyes just enjoying, savoring the moment.

I smiled, for once, I feel free… and I like it.

I threw my legs over the fence and climbed down. "Goodbye my little district, I hope to forget you." I whispered as I backed away, book bag on my back and my skull necklace around my neck… that was all I needed.


	7. Chapter 7

I gathered as many branches as I could and set them down in a spot in the forest where I have chosen to stay for the night. I was originally planning on making a shelter but I decided against it and settled for just making a small fire since the sun had set about a while ago and I really couldn't see past a few inches.

My stomach growled again, it was really starting to bother me. I dropped the sticks on the ground and clutched at my stomach, a force of habit, but I knew that my hunger wasn't going to go away.

I sighed, think Gaz… I stepped on the branches that I had dropped and one of them shot up and stabbed my leg. "Ow!" I exclaimed but then froze, that's it! I'll hunt for my food. I sat down next to the branches and reached over to get a hold of one of them with one hand and with the other one yanked off the skull necklace that was around my neck.

I pressed one of the skulls eyes sockets and a small but sharp knife popped out. I worked with what I had; I did my best to make some sort of spear out of some of the branches.

When I finished I grabbed the spears and put my skull necklace back around my neck. My stomach growled again and I smiled, it's hunting time.

I took in a deep breath and stood as still as I could. Water means life, life means food, I needed to go to the river. I closed my eyes, hoping that it'll help me hear the river.

With my spears in hand, I opened my eyes once I heard the sound of water rushing. "That way." I mumbled to myself as I walked forward in the direction of the river.

I have to be careful, the river was where I was almost captured… not this time. This time I have something to defend myself with.

My hand clenched around my arrows as I heard rustling in the nearby bushes.

My heartbeat quickened as I turned to look over, but I couldn't see anything it was way too dark. I took a step in that direction and the bushes rustled again. I grabbed one of the spears with my right hand and held it up as I took another step in the direction of the bushes.

I stepped over the bushes to see that it was an Elk. I held the spear higher, I was about ready to kill it, but I made the mistake of looking into its eyes. Its eyes held fear… but it still held its head high. I couldn't bring myself to kill it.

I sighed as my hand dropped the spear. "I can't do this." I mumbled reaching down to grab the stick and walk away. I turned back to see that the Elk had run away.

"There goes your food Gaz." I growled kicking at the pebbles that were at my feet angry at myself as I made my way to the river.

My stomach growled again. "Shut up. Just shut up!" I yelled at myself. "Why do I have to be so weak?" I growled dropping the spears and clutching at my stomach.

I heard rustling behind me. Quickly, I reached down and grabbed a spear but I wasn't fast enough.

An arm quickly trapped me, and a gloved hand covered my mouth. "Mph!" I exclaimed.

"Drop the weapon." Someone growled into my ear.

'_Like hell I will.'_ I thought as threw my head back against my captor.

"Ah!" they screamed letting go of me.

I stepped away from them and kicked their stomach sending the flying backwards.

I took a step towards them and my eyes widened. "What do you want with me?" I growled at him.

It was the one that had captured my mother and nearly captured me.

He coughed and clutched his stomach. "You're my new player." He said as he stood back up.

"No I'm not. I refuse." I growled stomping my foot.

"It doesn't work like that." He growled back, glaring at me as he wiped away some sort of liquid that was dripping down his chin with his sleeve.

"Rules are meant to be broken." I snarled at him.

He took a step in my direction and I lifted the spear ready to throw it at him.

He backed away and glared at me. "You are so different from your mother." He said.

"Don't bring her into this." I yelled at him, outraged.

"It's true! She was a whole lot better than you!" he growled pointing at me threateningly.

I threw the spear in a fit of rage and it went through his shoulder with a disgusting splat.

His hand went up to his shoulder as he let out a groan of pain. "Who do you think you are?" he growled at me.

"I'm Gaz. I warned you but you didn't listen. I loved my mom, but you had to take her away." I said backing away.

"That's not what I heard." He said an evil smile playing on his lips.

"What are you talking about?" I asked curiosity getting the best of me.

"The real reason that your mother was killed on the battlefield… it wasn't because she was weak, oh no… It was because she was distracted." He said, yanking the spear out of his shoulder. He winced but let it drop to the floor as he fingered his injury.

I glared at him and grabbed the spears that I had dropped and had one in my right hand just in case.

"Every night I would listen to her cry, every night Gaz. Do you know how hard that was on me?" he snarled at me taking a step towards me.

"Don't get any closer, I'm warning you." I told him lifting the spear.

"She would cry about the fact that her daughter didn't love her." He whispered.

I froze, my heart stopped beating for a second, and I paled. "No… no, she knew I loved her." I whispered backing away.

"She believed what you told her Gaz. How do you think I know your name? She would call out for you in her sleep! _'Gaz don't leave me!' 'Gaz! I'm here! Don't you see me?' 'Gaz! Where are you?'_ It was so heart breaking!" He said his hand going up to cover his eyes.

"You don't know the meaning of heart breaking!" I yelled at him.

"Yes I do!" he yelled at me dropping his hand.

"You have no idea what it's like." I growled at him letting my guard down.

"Yes I do, don't you get it Gaz? She was my friend!" he yelled tears in his eyes.

"You don't know the meaning of the word." I growled at him, refusing to break down in front of him.

"At first she was nothing but a playing card… but then I made the mistake of getting to know her. I hated watching her die just as much as you did." He growled.

"Liar! If she was what you call a friend, why didn't you save her?" I questioned him angry beyond belief.

"Because it was too late to back out! The Tallest already had their eyes on her! The whole reason for these games is to entertain the Tallest!" he exclaimed.

"I don't believe you." I said, not lowering the spear that was in my hand.

"What the hell am I doing trying to convince you." He mumbled angrily to himself shaking his head. "Skoodge! Knock her out!" he exclaimed looking behind me as he turned to walk away.

I quickly turned around to see the other alien running towards me and tackled me to the ground, pressing his hand to my neck and then everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up to someone poking at my stomach. "Lady?" they whispered, jabbing at my stomach again. "Lady's awake!" it exclaimed as I groaned and sat up, my stomach rumbling.

I growled. "Shut up." I grumbled rubbing my eyes.

"Okay." A little voice mumbled in disappointment beside me.

I let my hands fall to my sides and saw that it was the tiny robot named Gir. "I didn't mean you." I mumbled with a yawn as I stood up to take in my surroundings, but bumped my head and sat back down. "Ow." I grumbled still a bit sleepy.

I looked around me to see that there were all sorts of flashing buttons around me… and that I was sitting on a comfy cushion. "Where am I Gir?" I asked him, trying to blink away the tiredness.

"We're in my Mastah's voot-cruiser." He responded hugging my leg. "I thought you went bye-bye." He whispered with tears in his eyes.

I sighed. "Stop crying and help me get out of here." I told it.

"Sorry lady, but I'm ordered to not let you leave." He said sadly, removing himself from my leg to sit next to me.

I sighed and looked out the windshield to see that we were still in the woods. My stomach growled again and I looked back at Gir who was whistling.

"Gir, let me out, I need to get something to eat." I said pointing to my grumbling stomach.

"Sorry, lady. My Mastah will be back with food." He responded.

I sighed. "I'll take you out for a walk." I told him.

"Okay!" he exclaimed jumping out of his seat and pressing a bunch of buttons on the dash board, and then the windshield pulled up, letting in a gust of cool air.

I hopped over dashboard and jumped onto the ground, stretching. "That was easy." I muttered as I walked in the other direction. "Where did my spears go?" I muttered as my hand reached up to grab my skull necklace. "I guess I'll have to make more." I said to myself as my stomach growled again. "I'm going fishing." I murmured to myself as I started to walk in the direction of the sound of rushing water.

"Lady? Where you goin?" I heard Gir yell, wrapping himself around my leg.

"Let go Gir." I growled looking down at him as I walked.

"Lady!" he screeched.

"Gir, my name is Gaz, not lady." I growled at him.

"Gazzy!"

I rolled my eyes but kept walking. That's when I smelled it. I froze and closed my eyes, my stomach growling. "Is that… no…" I whispered to myself as I walked in the direction of the smell.

"Do you smell that Gir?" I asked him as I walked in the direction of the smell. I was so distracted that I tripped over a tree root and fell into a bunch of bushes. I growled to myself as I got up and dusted myself off.

"Mastah!" Gir exclaimed and let go of my leg.

I looked up and my jaw literally dropped. "W… where did you get all of this food from? And where did the tables come from?" I asked as I took in the scene in front of me.

There was a wooden table, about six feet long, and three feet long, with a nice elegant snow white cover, but that wasn't the only thing that caught my eyes… it was the food that it held.

Some nice roasted pork, some chicken, wine some cow meat, it smelled absolutely divine, my mouth watered and my stomach wouldn't stop growling.

"Welcome, to your little piece of heaven Gaz." The tall alien said from the end of the table, a smile on his face as he gestured to the food with his good hand.

I glared at him. "What did you put in the food?" I growled at him.

His smile immediately vanished. "Gaz, the food is clean. Why would I want to kill my player?" he asked.

"I'm not your player." I growled at him.

"We'll talk about this later. Right now, eat." He said gesturing for me to sit down in the seat next to him.

My stomach growled again. "I see your shoulder is patched up." I said pointing to his shoulder as I sat down as far away from him as I could.

He rolled his eyes. "No thanks to you Gaz." He said. "Skoodge, serve Gaz." He said as he got a hold of a fancy glass of wine and taking a sip out of it.

Skoodge came over with a plate full of meats and vegetables and set it in front of me.

I couldn't believe this is happening. "Gaz, this is the kind of meal you are going get every day for being my player."

"Look, I don't even know your name, but I'm not going to play. No, I have this rule about killing people." I said taking a bite out of the delicious meat. "Thank you." I said to Skoodge.

His eyes widened and he smiled at me. "Y… you're welcome." He said happily and ran away.

The taller alien gave him a weird look but then shook his head. "It's Zim... my name is Zim. And what rule are you talking about?" he asked me as he took another sip of his wine.

"Well Zim, my rule is that I will not kill people for no reason. I don't know if you saw it yesterday, but I couldn't even kill the Elk, and I had a reason to.." I said through a full mouth of food and swallowed it before stuffing my mouth with more food. I felt like I was in heaven.

"That's why I'm going to train you." he said with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that." I told him.

I looked back to see that Gir was lying on the ground sleeping. "Look, I'm not the one that you want. I'm not good enough." I said as I looked up at him.

"Don't be silly Gaz, anyone that is blood related to Annabell is perfect for fighting." He said with a chuckle.

I glared at him and threw my fork at him.

His eyes widened and he ducked underneath the table and my fork struck the cushioned part of the seat, sticking to it. "I said, don't bring my mother into this." I growled at him.

He sat up, wide eyed as he stared at the fork. I watched as a smile came to his face. "Gaz… how do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" I growled at him as I grabbed another fork and stuffed my mouth with more food.

He pointed at the fork on the chair and then at his patched up shoulder. "You... this table is six feet long… I wonder how good you'll be at throwing pointy objects at twenty feet." He said to himself as he pulled the fork out and looked at it with a creepy smile.

"It's too bad you won't get to know." I said though a mouthful of food.

He shot me a disgusted face but shook it off. "You don't have a choice in the matter little Gaz." He said with a smirk.

"We'll see." I murmured as I swallowed down my food.


	9. Chapter 9

"You didn't answer my question Zim." I told him as I patted my finally full stomach.

"What was the question?" he asked serving himself more wine.

"Where did you get all of this?" I asked him as I wiped my mouth clean with a fancy napkin.

"From your district." He said taking a sip out of his cup.

I froze. "In all my time living in the district, I didn't see all of this." I told him shocked.

"You'd be surprised of what people would give up in order not to be in the games." He said with a dark chuckle.

I stared at him. "I thought you chose me…" I was confused.

"I did… but they didn't know that." He said with an evil smile.

"Jerk." I mumbled as I stood up.

"Where are you going? We still have much to discuss." Zim said taking another sip of his wine again.

I turned back to him. "I thank you for the food Zim… but I'm not going to stay." I said with a chuckle.

Zim started to choke on his wine. He set the glass down with such a force that it shattered into pieces. He stood up and glared at me.

"Gaz, by you sitting here and eating the food meant that you were going to be my player." He growled at me, using the table to support himself as he leaned forward.

I rolled my eyes. "Well you should have told me before; I can't really give you the food back." I told him leaning against one of the trees as I patted my full stomach.

"Where did you learn your manners?" he growled.

I flinched and glared at him. "I don't have any… you took away the one that was supposed to teach them to me." I growled at him and the walked away.

"Get back here Gaz!" he shouted at me.

I didn't want to talk to him, I didn't want to see him, and I didn't want anything to do with him.

I heard a growl behind me but I ignored him and kept walking. I needed to find a spot to build a shelter for tonight before I start moving again.

There was a hand on my shoulder. "Gaz, you are my player, and you have no choice in the matter." He growled. "You are the only one that actually has a chance against Tak's player." He said his grip on my shoulder tightening.

I shook him off. "I'm not going to play in those games!" I yelled at him turning to look at him.

"What's holding you back Gaz? You ran away from your home!" he exclaimed. "Your father drinks his problems away and takes it out on you." He said, his hands grabbing at my shoulders.

I shook him away and took a step back. "How do you know that?" I growled at him.

"And when he gets the chance he compares you to your long lost brother… who knows where that boy disappeared to." He said shaking me a little.

"Stop it!" I yelled at him, shaking my head desperately trying to get out of his grip.

He shook his head and with one of his hands grabbed my chin so that I could look at him. "Your mother is dead, and you have no friends… you have nothing tying you down. Play in the Games Gaz." He whispered to me.

I was shaking. "How do you know all of that?" I whispered.

"Your mother was my friend Gaz… she told me everything… I'm here to take you away from that hell Gaz…" he said his ruby eyes staring down at me.

I shook my head. "No, you're here to take me to another hell." I told him, baking away from his grip.

He let his hands fall to his sides with a sigh and looked down at his watch. With a sigh he took it off and grabbed my wrist.

"What are you doing?" I growled at him, trying to rip my wrist out of his grip.

"Stop moving." He growled as he wrapped his watch around my wrist.

"You know where the voot-cruiser is stationed… we're leaving at eight, think about my offer. If you want to be at the games, come find us before eight… if you don't bury the watch and don't bother looking for us after eight." He said letting go of my wrist and turning to walk the other way.

I stared at him in shock. "Why are you giving me a choice?" I asked him.

He turned back to look at me. "Because I didn't give one to your mom… it only seemed fair." He said with a shrug and turned to disappear through the trees.

I didn't know what to do as I walked in the other direction and sat down against one of the nearby trees.

"What do I do?" I whispered to myself as I looked at Zim's watch around my wrist. "It's five…" I said to myself.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Authors note: To say that I was disappointed… is an understatement. When I saw how many reviews I got when I had the chance to check my yahoo… well I was sad, guess my stories aren't that good for all of you guys. Oh well, I always knew my stories were weird. So with a heavy heart, I'll do my best to make my stories review worthy…**_

He's right. I have nothing tying me down… maybe I should go into the games.

I pulled at my hair. "But the games are all about killing. I don't want that to haunt me." I whispered to myself as I banged my head back against the bark of the tree.

With a sigh, I stood up and let my legs walk, just roaming the forest. I glanced down at my watch and bit my lip, two hours and thirty minutes left.

"What do I do?" I whispered to myself as I took in a deep breath trying to weigh the options.

On one hand, there is the district… I don't have a family that is worth suffering for… that will be there for me, I lived in a terrible home.

On the other hand, the games is survival of the fittest… a light bulb went off in my head.

I straitened. "The games is all about survival of the fittest… and whoever wins gets respect and honor… and wealth." I whispered to myself as I started to paint out a yellow brick road, a small smile forming. "Maybe… If I win the games… I might get the respect I deserve from my father… maybe he will finally be proud of me… maybe he'll love me again. I'll get to go home, sleep in a comfortable bed, and move on with life, start a family… start over." I whispered to myself as I froze closed my eyes as I imagined what would happen.

_**Daydream-**_

_**I stood up, my legs barely able to hold me up as I looked down at the player I just killed. I can't believe it… I won…**_

_**Out of nowhere Zim ran up to me and grabbed a hold of my hand lifting it in the air. "The winner of the Games!" he shouted and then I heard a roar of cheers.**_

_**I looked up at Zim. "Take me home." I whispered as I blacked out.**_

_**I woke up to someone shaking me. "Gaz! You're awake!" my dad cried out hugging me to him. "I thought I lost you." He whispered as tears ran down his face.**_

_**-End Daydream**_

I snapped back to reality and found myself hugging my torso. "I'm going to the games." I said as I ran in the direction where I came from.

By the time I was close to the sound of rushing water I was starting to see stars from running so much. I looked down at the watch to see that it was seven.

Leaning over and putting my hands on my knees I took in deep shallow breaths and let them out noisily. When I felt in complete control of my body again, I got up and walked over to the rushing water and knelled down next to it reaching down and cupping my hands in it, splashing my face with the water.

I dried my face with the end of my dress and let it fall again as I looked down at my reflection with disgust. "Am I really going to do this?" I whispered to myself. "Am I really that desperate to feel appreciated?"

Zim appeared next to my reflection. "It's not healthy to talk to yourself the way you are doing it." He murmured.

I rolled my eyes, but stayed quiet not taking my eyes away from my reflection.

"I know how you feel, Gaz. I hope you know that you aren't the only one that feels the way you do." He whispered looking at my reflection.

I shook my head. "You have no idea how conflicted I feel right now." I murmured looking down at my hands.

He sighed. "What I'm about to tell you… you better keep quiet about this." He growled sending a glare in my direction but then looked back down at his hands. "Because of me, my mother died." He whispered.

I froze and then turned to look at him.

He looked at me and then back down at his hands. "I have an older sister, a dad and an uncle. They all look down at me. They look down at me with such hatred." He whispered shaking his head as he fingered the grass.

"Why?" I whispered, what has he done to be hated by his family?

"I killed my mother when I was born… the medical drone had to choose between me and my mother… they chose me, and well, my family didn't take it that well." He whispered. "I have never felt loved, and I desperately want to know what that feels like… I want to know what it's like for someone to feel proud of you… I want to know what it's like to be appreciated just as much as you do." He whispered, his voice quivering at the end as he shut his eyes tightly and bit his lip.

I looked up at him and then at his reflection to see that a tear had escaped him and rolled down his cheek.

I blinked in shock. "Who's your family?" I asked him.

He quickly wiped away the tear and looked in the other direction. "The tallest… Tallest Purple was my mother's brother… and Tallest Red is my father… and the beloved Tak is my sister." He growled. "She's the one that I'm up against." He growled his voice growing dark with hatred.

I looked at him and frowned. "Zim… I'll play in the games." I whispered.

His eyes shot open in shock. "Why?" he asked.

"This is the one way I'll get my father be proud of me…" I told him standing up and looking down at him offering my hand to help him up.

He looked at my hand and then up at me as he took it.

I pulled him up. "Lead the way Zim. We better get to training." I told him as I walked in the direction of the ship.

"Gaz. Just because I told you the sob story that is my life, doesn't mean that in any way we are going to be friends. If you get killed out there, I will not want to feel the same way that I felt when your mother died." He growled walking ahead of me with a stiff back.

I glared at him but the shook it off. "Alright then, it's settled. We keep it professional." I said as I walked ahead of him.

I could feel his glare as he skipped a step to get ahead of me. "And don't you forget your place Gaz. From now on I am your master." He said, not looking back at me.

I huffed. "Don't worry, I won't forget." I said chuckling as I ran past him.

"Gaz, you just forgot it!" he exclaimed as he ran after me.

"No I haven't! I just don't want to be in that position." I said laughing not looking back.

I heard a growl behind me but I ignored it. Next thing I know I was on my back laying on the ground a furious Zim on top of me.

I glared at him. "Get off." I growled pushing at his chest.

"Don't ever respond to me the way you did. You will show me respect." He hissed glaring back at me.

"And what if I don't." I asked him, pushing his buttons.

"You won't get far in the games then. I'll make sure of that." He growled.

"Why would you want your player to get hurt?"

"You don't know how the games work; do you?" he questioned.

"It's all about killing Zim. I know how it works." I growled at him as I rolled him off me and got up, dusting myself off.

"That's only half of it Gaz." He said as he got up and walked ahead of me as he dusted himself off.

"Oh really? And what's the other half?" I asked him as I walked beside him.

He looked down at me. "Image." He said as we walked up to the ship.

I looked up at the ship and there was a sinking feeling in my stomach. Did I really want to do this?

"What do you mean image?" I asked him as he opened the ship.

He held out his hand for me to take. "The kind of image that you have to have in your district in order to have connections. If you get hurt in the arena, let's say you are being supported by the medical drones, you get medical help. If you get hungry, and you are supported by foodcortia then you get to eat. It's all about your image and the connections that you get because of it." He said as I took his hand.

He helped me up into the ship and jumped in after me.

"Gazzy!" I heard Gir exclaim and attach himself to my leg.

_**Author note: Well, I guess the only reason to keep going with this story is on how many reviews/views this chapter gets. I'll keep writing… I just won't post anything…**_


	11. Chapter 11

"Master Zim. Do I ready the ship for our departure?" I heard Skoodge ask as he sat down in the pilot's seat.

"Immediately. Before our guest here changes her mind." Zim said sourly as he sat in the back seat, pressing a button that was on the wall.

I sat in the seat that was farthest away from him, swaying my foot so that Gir could get sick and climb off of it.

A table appeared in the middle of us and our seats turned so that we were facing each other.

Three holes appeared in the middle of the table and there was a swishing noise. "What's that?" I asked him as the noise became louder.

"The wine transporter." He said as a bottle of wine popped out from the middle hole. Zim reached out and caught it before it landed in the hole.

The middle hold closed up but the other two holes were still making that horrible noise. "Shut it off." I growled.

"Must be jammed or something." Zim muttered as he bent to look under the table.

Just then two wine glasses jumped out of the two holes.

My eyes widened and automatically my hands reached out to grab them before they smashed down on the table.

The two holes closed up and the annoying noise was gone.

With a sigh of relief I set the glasses down on the table as Zim sat up. Surprise lit his face. "How'd you… never mind." He muttered as he opened the bottle of wine.

"Zim… I don't drink." I told him.

"Gaz, it's only one cup." Zim said with an eye roll.

"I lived with an alcoholic Zim; I don't ever want to see alcohol or be anywhere near it." I growled at him. "You cannot force me to drink that… stuff." I said a look of disgust crossing my face.

"You will do as I say Gaz. If you want to get on the tallest's good side you have to do this. Gir, bring me a piece of paper and a pen." He said as he set the bottle down on the table and Gir detached himself from my leg to open his head and rummage through the contents.

"I'm not going to drink any of that." I told him crossing my arms in front of my chest. "I want you to know that I am a very stubborn person Zim."

"I know that Gaz." Zim mumbled as Gir handed him a note pad and a pencil. "I'm going to write down a list of things that you need to work on in order to have a good image." Zim said as he started to scribble down a bunch of things on the paper.

I glared at him. "I'm not going to change Zim." I growled at him.

He stopped writing and looked up at me with the same glare that I was giving him. "Do you want to get far in these games or what?" he asked calmly.

"Zim, I just want to get this over with." I told him stretching and rested my arms behind my head.

"Posture is one of the things you need to work on." Zim mumbled as he started to scribble on the piece of paper again.

"What's wrong with my posture?" I exclaimed letting my arms fall on the table and resting my head on them.

"A whole lot of things Gaz. Why are you not well educated?" he exclaimed putting the pad and pencil down on the table to rub his temples.

I reached over and grabbed the note pad and started to read the words that were listed. "The way I dress… really?" I questioned him.

"Give that back, I'm not done with that yet!" he exclaimed reaching over the table to grab the note pad.

I got up and walked to the back of the ship. "The way I act…" I read out loud.

He sighed and sat back in his chair, grabbing one of the wine glasses and served himself a glass of wine.

"Bla bla bla, junk." I kept saying until I reached the last one.

I froze and looked up at him. "You don't really expect me to change my personality do you?" I questioned.

"That is the one that is troubling you?" Zim asked and then exploded in a fit of laughter.

"I'm serious! I'm not going to change my personality!" I exclaimed stomping my foot to get my point across.

"Calm down Gaz. You will have to do that if you are going to become a cold blooded killer." He said calmly as he took another sip from his glass.

I threw the note pad at him. It hit the glass and caused Zim to let go of it, letting the wine spill all over him.

"What the hell? Gaz, your temper is another thing you need to work on." He growled standing up as he tried to brush off the wine but gave up with a grunt. "Gir, give me another shirt." He growled.

"Yes sir!" he exclaimed running to one side of the ship and opening a drawer, pulling out a shirt and throwing the shirt at Zim.

Zim caught it and quickly changed out of the wet shirt and pulled the clean one on but not before I could see the scars. "Where'd you get those scars from Zim?" I asked him quietly.

He looked up at me. "That's none of your business, and if you don't shape up and do as you are told, you are going to get a whole lot of those." He said as he handed the stained shirt to Gir.

"Sir, the ship is all set to go." Skoodge said.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's get out of here." Zim growled. He turned back to look at me. "It's too late to turn back Gaz. I promise you that I will do my best to train you… but I cannot promise you that you will not have the same fate as your mother." He told me.

My heart went cold and I looked away. "Please, do not bring my mother up in any more conversations." I asked him.

"I find that hard to do Gaz." He murmured.

"It's not like you loved her." I growled not looking at him.

His silence was worth a million words. I slowly turned to look at him. "You did… didn't you?" I asked him sitting back down in front of him.

"As a friend." He said quickly.

"No… it was more than that. I could see it in your eyes." I said as shock coursed through my body.

"Shut up Gaz." He said through clenched teeth, his fists clenching one the table

"That's why her death affected you the way it did." I said more to myself than to him.

"Are you deaf Gaz? I said shut up!" he exclaimed.

"You fell in love with her!" I exclaimed standing up suddenly causing my seat to fall back. "And you couldn't step in to save her?" I yelled at him.

Zim stood up and walked around the table so that we could see eye to eye.

From the corner of my eyes I saw his hand go up. Just as it was about to come in contact with my cheek, I grabbed it and glared at him. "Don't you ever lay a hand on me like that." I growled.

"I will do as I please." He growled, yanking his hand out of my grip. "And you will respect me." He growled and went to sit back down.


	12. Chapter 12

Ever since our last argument, I didn't even want to spit in Zim's direction, so I took my chair and moved it next to Skoodge's chair so that I would be able to see all the stars as we moved through space.

I felt my eye lids grow heavy, and I yawned. I slapped myself lightly on the cheeks to keep myself awake.

"Gaz just go to sleep." Zim said from behind me.

I turned back to look at him. "Zim, ever since I was little I wanted to fly past all the stars, I'm not going to miss this." I told him rubbing my eyes and yawning.

"You could see them again later Gaz. You have to look your best when you meet the tallest. I don't think your best means that you should have bags under your eyes." He stated.

"Fine, I'll go to sleep." I mumbled as my eye lids started close.

"Gaz. You do know that we set up a room for you right?" Zim asked with a chuckle.

I shrugged but didn't move from my seat.

I heard Zim sigh but I chose to ignore it as I started to drift off.

"Master? What are you doing?" I heard Skoodge ask.

"Nothing, you just drive the ship." I heard Zim respond.

I tried to open my eyes but they wouldn't open, they were too heavy. Soon enough I started to snore.

Author's P.O.V.

Zim looked down at Gaz. "Why did she have to be so stubborn… So rude… So… unlike her mother?" he said to himself as he picked her up carrying her bridal style.

"Excuse me sir?" Skoodge said putting the ship on auto pilot to turn in his seat and look at his master.

"What do you want Skoodge?" Zim asked turning to look at him.

"Maybe you should give her a break; it takes guts to do what she is doing." Skoodge said shyly, trying his best to not tick his master off.

"Why do you care?" Zim asked, Skoodge hasn't requested anything like that in… well ever.

"Well because she appreciates me. She actually said thank you to me! No one does that!" Skoodge said a huge smile spread across his face.

"Don't be so stupid Skoodge, these humans will tear limb from limb the minute they can." Zim responded remembering how foolish he was to believe he actually had a chance with… no, he wouldn't think of it.

"With all due respect master… not all humans are the same. In the right circumstances they could actually be nice." Skoodge said bravely.

"Did I give you permission to express your opinion Skoodge?" Zim growled his grip on Gaz tightening in anger.

"Sorry sir." Skoodge murmured turning back in his seat and turning off the auto pilot.

Gaz started to shiver. "No… no, back away…" she whispered her voice quivering.

Zim looked down at her in wonder. "What are you dreaming about?" he asked but he knew he wasn't going to get an answer. He turned to look back at Skoodge. "I'm going to take her to bed. I'll be right back, we'll talk about this then." he said and turned around walking to the back of the ship.

"You're drunk… please… no hitting." Gaz whimpered clutching at Zim's shirt.

Zim was beyond confused, but he pushed that aside and pushed one of the various buttons labeled 'Guest's Room.'

The back of the ship expanded and a door appeared in front of Zim. Getting a good grip on Gaz he went to open the door.

As he walked inside Gaz started to struggle against him. "Get away!" she exclaimed pushing against his chest.

Surprised, Zim dropped her. He watched her drag herself to a corner of the room and curl herself into a ball, her hands going up to her face to protect it from… whatever it was that was attacking her.

"Put the beer bottle down." She whimpered, if Zim didn't know any better he would have thought that she was awake and talking to him.

Out of nowhere her head snapped forward and there was a scream of agony that filled the room and then everything went silent.

Gaz fell to her side, one of her hands going to cover the back of her head.

Zim stood there shocked. "Did that really just happen?" he asked himself as he walked over to where Gaz was sprawled out and kneeled in front of her.

"It's not my fault dad. They took her, she didn't leave." She whimpered.

That's when it struck him… what just happened wasn't a dream… it actually happened, it was a memory.

Zim reached over and moved Gaz's hand. He moved some strands of hair and jumped back. He got this horrible feeling in his squidly-spooch when he saw the nasty scar.

"What has your father put you through?" he questioned as he tried to regain his composure.

Zim shook off the feeling of 'de ja vu' and bent down again to pick Gaz up.

"Please put that broken bottle down." She whimpered.

Zim set her down on the bed and rushed to get out of the room when another agony filled scream filled it again.

Zim turned back to see Gaz clutching at her stomach, actual tears were streaming down her cheeks as she twisted and turned on the bed.

Pressing his back to the door, Zim watched the scene before him unfold; terror filled him as he watched Gaz scream out in pain again and again.

Every time that she screamed out he flinched and turned the other way only to turn back and watch her suffer.

He found that he too, had tears streaming down his face. He hastily wiped them away and turned back to look at Gaz.

He fell to his knees as he clutched at his own stomach.

He was getting all sorts of flashbacks, every single one of the scars that he had on his body was a reminder to him that he should know his place in the family. He should only talk when spoken too, he will not walk ahead of his older sister, he shall not eat before everyone was done eating, and he can't be in the same room as his father without good reason.

He struggled to breathe as he hit the ground repeatedly with his fist. He did all those things, he respected all of their rules and yet he got punished, it wasn't fair! That should not have happened! If only his mother had survived, she would have defended her only son; she would have loved and nurtured him.

"But she didn't survive." He whispered to himself as Gaz's screams finally died down.

"It wasn't my fault daddy. Not mine…" She whimpered softly as she finally managed to calm down… as her nightmares slowly started to disappear into the night.


	13. Chapter 13

**_Author's P.O.V._**

Skoodge worriedly knocked on the door multiple times. "Master? Is everything alright in there?" he asked pressing his antenna against the door.

"Everything's fine, go fly the ship!" Zim exclaimed kneeling back up on the floor and wiping away his tears trying to compose himself.

"Are you sure, sir?" he asked, doubting that everything was fine. For the master's sake! He just heard a bunch of screams of agony and by the sound of his master's voice, he knew something was wrong.

"Everything is fine Skoodge! You know very well I don't like to repeat myself!" Zim growled as he stood up, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Yes sir! Right away sir!" Skoodge exclaimed running back to his seat. Before he turned the auto pilot off he frowned. "Oh master… I can't believe that once upon a time, you were actually nice to me." He whispered to himself as he turned the auto pilot.

Back in the room, Zim took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down as he took a step toward Gaz.

She looked so calm and peaceful, as if the little episode she had didn't occur at all.

Zim kneeled down next to the bed and pulled her hands away from her stomach.

Hesitant, Zim's hand slowly reached out and grabbed the edge of her shirt. "It can't be as bad as mine… it's impossible that her father was as cruel as my family." Zim said to himself as he pulled the shirt up to reveal a ton of scars.

Zim's hand pulled the shirt back down once he surveyed the damage. He stood up and backed away from Gaz. "She has the same scars as I do." He whispered to himself as he opened the door.

He walked over to his seat and rubbed his temples, there was something about her screams that just… just made him go wild, he had never felt so out of control, so unleashed.

With a sigh, Zim traced the scars that covered his stomach over his shirt, he knew them by heart, each one of them gave him what the humans call 'nightmares'.

"Mastah's sad?" Gir asked from his little corner.

Zim rolled his eyes and looked over at Gir. "No, Zim is never 'sad'." He growled.

Gir shook his head slowly, his little claw clenching around the little stuffed pig that he had found back at earth. It was dirty beyond belief and had rips all over it, and it was missing an eye, but he still insisted on taking it on board.

"You're sad mastah; you trace your scars when you're sad." Gir mumbled.

Zim shook his head. "Shut down Gir." Zim commanded.

Gir cowered into his corner, hugging his stuffed piggy to him. "Not permanently… right?" He questioned.

Zim took pity on the poor robot and nodded. "Not permanently." He murmured and went to go sit by Skoodge.

Gir let out a sigh of relief as his hold on his stuffed piggy loosened. Opening his head, he reached into it and pulled on a wire. Almost immediately the color in his eyes turned black and he fell to the ground with a loud clank.

"So where were we Skoodge?" Zim asked looking out the windshield.

"She deserves a break Master Zim." Skoodge said softly.

Zim sat there quietly, thinking. "You know Skoodge… I think I should get to know Gaz more… from what just happened… I think I'm not the only one on the ship with a troubled past." Zim said and then stood up stretching. "Well, I'm going to sleep." He said and walked over to the wall, pressing one of the buttons that sad 'Master Bedroom'.

Skoodge's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder to see Zim enter his bedroom, a smile spreading across his face as he shook his head and turning his attention back to driving the ship. He waited until he heard the door slam to let out a little chuckle.

"Irkens don't sleep master." He whispered to himself. "But you started to do that because of Annabell…" Skoodge sat there thinking to himself and with every thought his smile grew. "And now… you're doing it because of Gaz." He whispered and then started to clap. "Master's going to be happy again, I can feel it!" he said to himself.

**_A/N: What do you guys think? Should I keep doing Author's P.O.V.? Or should I go back to Gaz's P.O.V.?_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: I guess I'm sticking with Authors P.O.V. for now. X)**_

Gaz woke up with a start, her breathing was labored and her body was drenched in sweat. Sitting up quickly, she dragged her knees to her chest so that she could rest her chin on it and waited for her heart beat to calm down.

Taking deep breaths, she tried to forget that horrible memory. "I hope I didn't bother anyone with my screaming." She murmured wiping the back of her head across her forehead to get rid of the beads of sweat that were accumulating there.

With a sigh she swung her legs over the bed and looked around, taking in her surroundings. "How on earth did I get here?" she asked herself scratching the back of her head and yawning.

She shrugged and then stretched before getting up and dragging her feet to get to the only door in sight.

She opened it and was greeted by a conflicted looking Zim. "What was with all the screaming just now?" he asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"So much for a hello." She mumbled walking past him.

"You woke me up." Zim said with another yawn.

"Where exactly are we going?" Gaz asked Zim, ignoring his complaints.

"To the training facility in Irk, once we think that you are ready for the games, we'll go and meet the Tallest to see if they let you participate in them." Zim said with another yawn.

Gaz nodded and rubbed her sore eyes. "Are we almost there?" she asked him.

"In a few minutes." Zim said pointing out the windshield.

Gaz looked out the window to see a planet that was approaching quickly. She nodded and looked at him "Where's Gir?' she asked.

Zim pointed at the little robot that was shut down.

Gaz's eyes widened in horror. "What did you do to him?" she exclaimed, snapping out of her hazy state and running over and kneeling beside him.

"He was getting annoying so I told him to shut down." Zim said with a shrug as he walked over to grab him, opened his head and put the disconnected cable back to where it belongs. "There better?" he asked Gaz as he set Gir back down on the ground, Gir's eyes returning to their normal color.

"Master! Thank you!" Gir exclaimed tears of happiness escaping him as he clutched his masters leg, happy to have been given the chance to live one more day.

"Let go Gir." Zim growled down at the tiny robot.

Sniffling, his previous all but vanished, Gir separated himself from his master and went to sit down in a little corner picking up a stuffed piggy and hugging it to him.

Gaz looked down at him and the image of her when she was little flickered in the back of her mind, replacing Girl and putting herself in his position.

"You shouldn't treat him like that…. In fact… you shouldn't treat anyone like that." Gaz told him shaking her head to get rid of that image that was playing over and over in her head.

Zim opened his mouth to respond but the ship suddenly rocked onto its side, causing them to slip fall to the floor and slam against the wall. Maka looked up to see that she hadn't smashed into the wall, but smashed into a pissed off Zim.

"Skoodge! What's going on?" he snarled as he gently pushed Gaz off of him and tried to get up, but he couldn't.

"I don't know master; something on the ship went haywire. Oh, no wait, I got back under control, sorry." Skoodge exclaimed from the driver's seat, the ship going back to its normal position.

Zim was slammed against the floor of the ship and Gaz fell onto his back with a grunt. "Ow." She grumbled as she pushed herself off of him. "Sorry about that." She mumbled holding out her hand to him once she was standing.

He took her hand without hesitation and stood up only to bump into Maka again when the ship tilted again, but after a second of them trying not to hit that wall again, the ship went back to its normal position leaving Gaz and Zim standing was too close to be comfortable.

He looked down into her eyes his mouth went dry. He cleared his throat and pushed himself away from her as he glared at Skoodge. "Skoodge." He growled.

"Sorry Sir, must have been a glitch or something." Skoodge said without looking back so that his master wouldn't see the smirk that was on his face.

He knew what he did was risky… but his master deserved to be happy, it's been years after all, and now that his master had the chance at happiness again, Skoodge wasn't going to just sit there and watch everything slip through his master's fingers. All his master needed was a little push… and the tilt of the ship seemed to have done something to Zim… and Gaz.

_**A/N: Sorry I've been taking a while to update my Invader Zim stories X)**_


	15. Chapter 15

Gaz looked around as she hoped off of the ship and onto the ground of this foreign planet. She breathed in air… it seemed okay. She waved her arms around, the gravity seemed to be the same as earth's.

"What are you doing?" Zim asked her as he jumped off of the ship after her and start to push her towards the training building.

Gaz was getting nervous as she bit down on her lip. "I don't know anyone there. I'm going to be an outcast." She murmured, it was going to be the same as it was when she was at home.

"Good, make it easier for you to kill them. If you have no sort of connection with them it'd be much easier for you. You won't feel as much guilt as you should." Zim said as he continued to push her, Skoodge and Gir following behind them.

"But I don't want to feel guilty at all." Gaz said, her hand going to hold the necklace that her mother had gotten her.

"Then why did you come?" Zim asked with a roll of his eyes.

"I… I don't know." She mumbled. "I forgot." She mumbled.

"How could you forget already? Remember you wanted to make your district proud… especially your father." Zim said but he didn't like saying it at all, he knew he was just using Gaz to beat his sister's player, but really, that was the whole point of the game.

Gaz's back stiffened and she nodded. "You're right… but what if I'm not good enough?" she asked.

Gaz was starting to get second thoughts about this, Zim could feel it. His hold on her shoulders tightened. "Your mother was a brave woman." He said realizing that the only way that she wasn't going to doubt herself was that she would have to be mad most of the time, her temper was one of the only things that was keeping her here.

Gaz turned around and glared at him. "Don't bring her into this… again." She murmured and then turned back around, walking toward the building without Zim having to force her.

Zim smirked, success, but he was serious, her mother was brave… but not as brave as Gaz was being right now.

Zim blinked and shook his head, shaking the thought out of his head. "No, I'm not going to fall for that again." He growled to himself, his fingers going up to massage his temples.

"Not going to fall for what sir?" Skoodge asked as Gir ran to hug Gaz's leg.

"Nothing." Zim growled.

"Are you sure it's nothing Master?" Skoodge asked him.

"Drop it Skoodge." Zim growled again, a stern look in his eyes as he glared down at the small alien.

Skoodge looked down and nodded. "Yes Sir." He mumbled as he walked faster to catch up to Gaz.

Zim looked over to them… why did he have the feeling that this was going to be a train wreck?

Once they had signed themselves in, Zim pushed Gaz toward their practice station. "Don't make any eye contact with anyone, keep your head down and stay quiet. Not one word." Zim growled in her ear and Gaz nodded.

"I'm going to set up a target. Wait here." Zim mumbled and walked away, leaving Gaz to look around.

The building was huge… and why were all the other contestants humans? Gaz scratched the back of her head and scanned the room.

It was like a huge, carpeted gym, and each part of the gym was sectioned off to every player, Gaz was assigned the corner.

"I told you to keep your head down, if you stare to long, they'll take it as a challenge." Zim growled into her ear, startling Gaz out of the haze she was in.

"Sorry." She growled back at him, sending him a glare. "So what am I supposed to do?" she asked him as she saw that he had stationed a red and white target board on the farthest wall from them.

Zim backed her up as Skoodge brought a bunch of wooden arrows and Gir brought the bow. "Let's see how good you are with the bow and arrows." Zim said, gesturing for her to take a hold of the weapons.

Gaz smirked, she hadn't done this since she was little. "I doubt I'd be good at this." She said as she grabbed the Bow that Gir had handed her and an arrow that Skoodge handed her and got into position, aiming for the bull's eye.

Gaz blinked when she saw where the arrow hit.

"I don't understand!" Zim growled as he looked up at the ceiling where the arrow was stuck. "You're good with pointy objects and trying to kill me!"

Gaz let out a laugh, she should have told him that she had given up on the bow and had stuck with just the arrow for a reason.

"Let's try this on for size." Gaz said chuckling as she grabbed another arrow but gave Gir the bow back. Aiming at the bulls eye she let her arm fling forward. "Better?" she asked him.

"Better than the first one." He mumbled. "Skoodge go check to see if it was a bulls eye." Zim said.

Skoodge nodded and ran to check and smiled. He turned back and gave Gaz a thumbs up. "Don't be so grouchy Zim. Calm down a little." Gaz said smirking.

"We aren't done practicing Gaz. I'll calm down once you're in the clear." Zim said, but on the inside, he let himself smile.


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: Sorry for not updating earlier! One a side note, I want to thank Vivien G for reviewing so many times, you don't know how happy I was to wake up to so many reviews! XD**_

Zim grabbed Gaz's shoulders and pushed her in the direction of a set of double doors on the other side of the door. "Head down Gaz." He whispered into her ear.

Gaz nodded and looked at the ground, walking as Zim pushed her forward.

"Zim!" Gaz heard someone yell out. "I see you found yourself a player." They called out.

Gaz could feel his hold on her shoulders tighten.

"Sir, calm down, don't let Tak get the best of you." Skoodge whispered to his master.

Zim's eyes shut closed as he took in a deep breath and then letting it out. Letting go of Gaz's shoulder, he turned around to face Tak, controlling his facial expression, knowing that anything could set his sister off.

"Can I help you?" Zim asked, his face blank, and his voice smooth, but there was something off about it… it was emotionless.

"Not really, why don't you help your player and kill her now, we both know that what is going to happen in the end." Tak smirked.

Zim thought that she looked as cocky as ever, the cape that draped over her shoulders was the same color as her eyes, her heels were black and so were her elbow length gloves.

Zim frowned at her and decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut. "Let's go Gaz." He said, louder than he had meant it to be and turning back to Gaz.

Gaz kept her head down as Zim's hands went to her shoulders again and started to push her towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tak growled at Zim.

Zim ignored her and pushed Gaz to the double doors with Skoodge and Gir following them closely.

"Who's Tak's player?" Gaz asked Zim as she was pushed into another room, she could feel glares being thrown her way, but she decided to ignore them.

"No one knows, Tak has always forced it to wear a mask to hide its true identity, we don't even know it's gender…Tak doesn't let it talk either… the poor thing." Zim mumbled as he took in his surroundings. The room was bigger than the other one was because of all the individual rooms it has in it, but there was hardly any light, just a few lit candles here and there. "Alright Gaz, this room is to test your stealth abilities." Zim said. "Here, you are going to get paired up with another competitor, but you guys aren't going to kill each other, just a few punches and kicks maybe, but no killing. So don't try, we haven't trained you for that part yet." Zim told her as he reached into his PAK to pull out keys and read the number in it. "Alright, we get room number 64." Zim said.

"What a coincidence, we have the same room! I guess our players are going head to head." Tak said from behind Zim with an evil laugh, her player behind her.

Gaz couldn't help the curiosity that shot through her; she looked up to see the player behind Zim's sister.

Zim was right, it was forced to wear a mask, but it still looked down at the ground. Every inch of its skin was covered in cloth, even its hands.

Gaz blinked and looked down before the player could look back at her.

Zim glared at Tak. "You had a say in this didn't you?" he growled, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Never mind that, come on, let's go and get this over with." Tak said, her head high in the air as her player followed her silently.

Zim bared his teeth at her, he was seething. Gaz was only a beginner! How could she beat Tak's player?

"Mastah? You okay?" Gir asked up to him as Gaz and Skoodge walked ahead without them.

Zim looked down at Gir. "I'm fine." He grumbled, picking him up and sitting him down on one of his shoulders and kept moving.

Gaz looked up to see that Tak's player was looking back at her, but then when it saw that she looked up, it snapped it's head back down.

Gaz blinked and then got to thinking… how many people has this player killed?

Before she could think any further Zim walked ahead of her. "This is it." he said as he stopped in front of one of the several doors that were around them, slipped the key in and unlocked it, opening it up and gesturing for Gaz to step inside.

Gaz took in a deep breath and stepped inside after Skoodge patted her back in encouragement, Tak's player walking inside behind her.

The room was dark, too dark for her comfort. Zim closed the door behind them, locking it.

Gaz really had no idea what to do… maybe she should just sit in a corner and wait it out.

Gaz took a step forward and bumped into something her head smashing against something hard, a groan of pain coming from both the players.

"Watch it." someone growled at her.

Well, now she knew the player was male… but why did the voice seem so familiar. Desperately, she raked her brains for answers, but couldn't come up with anything so she pushed the thought aside. It took her several minutes to try to remember where she had heard that voice before but she came up with nothing.

Zim said that whoever attacks the other first right? She should just get this over with; the darkness of the room was starting to bring back bad memories.

Holding her breath she listened to see if the man in front of her had moved or not.

She heard a loud thud next to her and moved out of the way before the player was able to tackle her to the ground.

Staying as quiet as possible, she strained to hear his next move keeping her eyes closed and her ears open.

She heard his clothes scratch against the ground and she crouched into her attack position and tackled him back down to the ground, her hand going to his mask ripping it off.

"That was faster than I expected." Zim said opening the door, a huge smile on his face. He didn't know if Gaz noticed but from the outside of the room, they were able to see everything that was going on in the inside, thanks to the wonders of Irken Technology. He had finally gotten to see the face of Tak's player, and Tak's face of shock.

Gaz blinked, her eyes adjusting to the light as she looked down at the person that was under her and her breath caught in her throat as she jumped off of him.

"Dib?" she yelled, her hand tightening around the mask in her hand.

Dib sat up, his hands going to comb through his black hair that seemed to defy gravity no matter how hard he tried to calm it down. "How do you know my name?" he growled, squinting at her. He pulled out a pair of broken glasses from his front pocket and put them on. His eyes widened in shock as he started to tremble on the ground. "Gaz?"


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N: You know what's weird? This Invader Zim story has the same amount of reviews as my first Soul Eater story… the only thing is that my Soul Eater story has about 10,000 more views than this one! Talk about not reviewing! -.- Anyways, sorry to keep you guys waiting! X)**_

Authors P.O.V.

"All these years…" Gaz muttered, her shaking hand going to cover her mouth as she felt as if she was going to throw up.

"Gaz… is that really you?" Dib asked as he stood up, his hand going to grab Gaz's arm but she jerked away from him.

Gaz stepped away from Dib, her heart stopping as well as her breathing. She turned toward the door and made a quick effort to leave but a hand on her wrist stopped her.

"Gaz?" Dib whispered, hugging her from behind.

Gaz froze and shoved him off, dashing to the door, making sure to keep her head down as she walked up to Zim. "The next practice area Zim." Gaz said through clenched teeth as she tried to hold back her tears, great full that her hair was covering her face.

Zim stayed quiet as he once again grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her in the other direction, the Sir unit and Skoodge following closely behind.

Tak glared at her brother as he silently took away the one that over powered her player. "What was that about?" she growled, stepping up to Dib, and crossing her arms in front of her as she looked up at him.

"Nothing." Dib mumbled.

"That sure didn't look like anything." She hissed at him and grabbed a hold of his arm and dragged him towards the exit.

"Where are we going? I have to finish training. I have to talk to Gaz." Dib said looking in the direction of where Zim was pushing Gaz and a brotherly feeling filled him. He had to go save his sister from all this, she doesn't have to suffer the pain that he has gone through because of all this.

"Look at you! You're getting weak! I don't need a weak player." Tak growled at him without slowing down.

"Master… please… not again." Dib whispered in fear.

"Oh. Don't worry it's going to happen." Tak snarled as the exited the building and made their way towards the building next to it where the devices were placed.

Dib pulled his hand out of her grasp and backed away from her. "No! I refuse to go through with this!" he yelled at her and made a run for it in the other direction.

Tak felt her eyes twitch as she ran after him, jumping onto his back and bringing them both down. "I don't want a weak player!" she yelled as a mechanical arm popped out of her Pak and slammed down on Dib's neck, instantly killing him.

Tak stood up and her hands went up to comb back her antennas. "This player was starting to get on my nerves anyways." she grumbled as metal arms popped out of her PAK and grabbed Dib, dragging him after Tak as she entered the other building, stopping at the front desk. "I need to talk to my daddy." Take said as she looked down at the secretary.

"I'm sorry but he is in a meeting right now." The secretary said not paying much attention to the body that Tak was dragging.

Tak froze and her eye started to twitch. "My daddy always has time for me." She said through clenched teeth as her hand latched onto the edge of the desk and ripped of a piece.

The secretary however remained unmoved. "I'm sorry but he's in a meeting." She repeated.

The arms dropped Dib's body onto the ground and grabbed the secretary and ripped her in half. Tak was angered to see the sparks go flying as bolts and wires fell to the ground from the secretary.

"Damn it, daddy. You and your machines." She growled as the arms threw the secretary at the wall where it created a dent.

The arms grabbed Dib as Tak began to move towards the elevators. As she waited for them to open she began to think about an excuse of why she had to kill her player. "He was attacking me… no, I've used that one before." She mumbled to herself as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the up button. "He wouldn't do what he was told… nah." She mumbled to herself as the doors opened again and she stepped out into the hallways.

She kept coming up with excuses as she made her way to her father's office. "I'll just say I grew tired of him." She mumbled as she knocked on the door of her father's office.

"Busy!" her father called out.

"For me?" she asked, false hurt in her voice.

There was silence on the other end of the door and then the door opened. "Never for you Tak." Tallest Red said as he patted her head.

"That's not what your robot secretary said." Tak mumbled with a pout on her face.

"I don't know how many time I told you to just walk past her." Tallest Red mumbled. "You just like destroying my machines.

"Maybe that's true." Tak said as she skipped over to couch letting Dib's body drop at her father's feet.

"Not another one Tak. This is the fourth one this month!" Tallest Red said with a sigh as he picked up the body and walked over to a closet, opened it and threw the body in there along with all the rest with a loud clank of metal.

"I'm sorry daddy, it was malfunctioning." She said with a pout.

Tallest Red sighed, knowing that that was not true, but decided to ignore it.

"Alright fine." He said as he closed the closet and walked over to another door, Tak getting up and following him as he opened the door and stepped inside.

He turned on the light to reveal a long pathway. "Close the door Tak." He said as he walked towards the other door, reaching into his pocket to grab a key and opened the door with it.

"Choose which one you want Tak, but you better stop killing them, there won't be enough for the actual games if you keep this up." Red said calmly as he was almost run over by a jumping Tak.

She ran inside the room, the lights flickering on.

Hanging from the ceiling were a bunch of mechanical Dibs that were turned off, each ready for battle and with the memories of the real Dib that was long ago deceased.

Tak ran through aisle after aisle of the bodies that were hanging as she randomly choose sticking her hand out and counting to ten as she ran. "This one! I pick this one!" she yelled excitedly, eagerly pointing at the body as she jumped up and down, a huge smile plastered on her face.

Tallest Red sighed. "What number is it?" he asked her as he went to the nearby wall with all the red buttons.

"Ninety-Four!" Tak called out.

Tallest Red squinted at the numbers that were on the wall and pressed the one that said Ninety four.

Tak backed away as the Dib she chose dropped to the floor with a loud clank and immediately, it's eyes opened. "Master." He whispered as he pushed himself to stand up, a little stumble as he was not used to moving.

"Thank you daddy!" Tak called out happily as she grabbed Dib's arm and ran out the door, Dib following close behind, a small stumble with every step he took.

Tallest Red watched her leave and sighed. "I spoil her too much." He mumbled as he walked out the door, closing it and locking it behind him.


End file.
